Centre for Internet and Society

Inclusive Disaster and Emergency Management for Persons with Disabilities

nirmita — 2013-10-04T14:46:21Z

This report is a review of the needs, challenges, effective policies, and practices for inclusive disaster management practices. It was submitted to the National Disaster Management Authority of India (NDMA) on September 17, 2013 for their action.

Note: The report is co-authored by Deepti Samant Raja and Nirmita Narasimhan.

Persons with disabilities face unique challenges during every stage of emergency and disaster management due to inaccessible warnings, evacuation, response (including shelters, camps, and food distribution), and long-term recovery efforts. Additionally, disruption to physical, social, economic, and environmental networks and support systems affect people with disabilities in greater proportions.

Common experiences reveal that people with disabilities are more likely to be left behind or abandoned during evacuation in disasters and conflicts. They may be separated from their family members and caregivers, as well as their assistive devices (e.g. wheelchairs, prosthetics) or may be unable to operate them in a disaster (e.g. aids that run on electricity or batteries).

Shelters and relief camps are frequently inaccessible to persons with disabilities, and they may be unable to easily access food and water distribution centres. The paucity of statistical data on persons with disabilities and limited knowledge on how to respond to their needs is another factor that heightens their vulnerability in a disaster or emergency situation (Smith, Jolley & Schmidt, 2012). Resources and necessities may become scarce during a disaster situation, and there is a potential for discrimination on the basis of disability in such scarcity. Common perception is that inclusion and accessibility only matter to a small percentage of the population and thus are not cost effective. Leaving aside the fact that persons with disabilities are not a small and irrelevant percentage, accessible and disability inclusive approaches in fact benefit many others.

Elderly persons are one of the most affected groups in a disaster or emergency situation. Aging and disability are linked with each other, and many persons develop disabling conditions as they age including limited mobility, low vision, and hearing difficulties. They will significantly benefit from physical and communication accessibility in disaster preparedness, evacuation, relief, and recovery. Similarly, providing information in multiple formats beyond text such as graphical and oral formats can make this important information available and accessible to people with low or no literacy as well as children.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is the first international human rights treaty that specifically addresses the rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities (Lord, Samant Raja & Blanck, 2012). The CRPD was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2006 and opened for signatures on March 30, 2007. The CRPD had one of the shortest periods to come into force as the required twenty ratifications were achieved barely a month after it opened for signatures. The entire CRPD and its eight operating principles raise the need to make all disaster and emergency planning accessible and inclusive, failing which States Parties will not be able to meet their obligations under the CRPD. Additionally, the CRPD is specific about the need to make emergency and disaster management operations inclusive of persons with disabilities. Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (UN Enable, 2006) on "Situations of Risk and Humanitarian Emergencies" states that: States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.

The CRPD's direct mention of disasters and emergencies represented the first major global treaty to focus attention on the needs of persons with disabilities in disaster events. In addition, Article 9 on Accessibility requires States Parties to ensure that people can access, on an equal basis with others the physical environment, transportation services, information and communications technologies and systems and all public facilities and services which include emergency services and facilities. Article 9 specifically mentions the need to make "information, communications and other services, including.emergency services accessible." Declarations and initiatives before that such as the Hyogo Framework for Action, which is the widely accepted blueprint for Disaster Risk Reduction in countries, failed to mention and take into account the importance of addressing disability issues.

As of September 16, 2013, 134 countries have ratified and 156 have signed the CRPD (UN Enable, 2013). States parties to the CRPD have to work towards making disaster risk reduction and all stages of the disaster and emergency management process accessible and inclusive of persons with disabilities. Article 32 on International Cooperation focuses on the need to ensure that international cooperation initiatives, including development programs, are accessible and inclusive of people with disabilities. States are encouraged to support capacity building and the exchange of knowledge and best practices, strengthen research collaborations and access to scientific knowledge, and offer technical and economic assistance to help meet a state's obligations under the convention. This provision is very relevant to the aid and humanitarian relief operations conducted by development and aid agencies and international NGOs. It promoted increased technical cooperation on disability and reiterates the need to include disability in all development and aid programming.

Many of the articles of the Convention intersect with different aspects of the disaster management cycle such as education and employment which are relevant in recovery and reconstruction. A few relevant articles are given below.

Article 9 on Accessibility requires States Parties to ensure that people can access, on an equal basis with people without disabilities, physical environments, transportation services, information and communications content, technologies, and systems and all public facilities and services which certainly apply to emergency services and facilities. Article 9 specifically mentioned the need to make "information, communications and other services, including.emergency services" accessible.
Article 31 on Statistics and Data Collection encourages States Parties to collect statistical and research data that can help in formulating and implementing effective policies to give effect to the different articles of the Convention.
Article 26 on Habilitation and Rehabilitation focuses on organizing, strengthening and extending comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes which are important during the response and immediate recovery following serious injuries in disasters and emergencies, as well as for long-term recovery and rebuilding. Other major declarations that raise the need for inclusive disaster and emergency management include the Yogyakarta declaration on disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific 2012, the Phuket Declaration on Disaster Preparedness for Persons with Disabilities in 2009, and the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action 2003-2012. The Hyogo Framework for Action, adopted in 2005 at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, is considered to be a blueprint to guide nations in their disaster risk reduction efforts until 2015. The framework which was signed by 168 countries does not address disability specifically, resulting in continuing exclusion of persons with disabilities in most DRR plans (Scherrer, 2013).

However, efforts are underway to promote the inclusion of disability in the next iteration of the Hyogo Framework. The goal of this report is to serve as a primer on the needs of persons with disabilities in disasters and emergencies, and to provide a comprehensive compilation of effective policies, practices and strategies for inclusive disaster and emergency management. This report utilizes a literature review of policy, practice, and research documentation on the different dimensions of inclusive disaster and emergency management.

A diverse set of sources were compiled for this review including:

research articles, reports, and evaluations of responses in past disasters
country policies and initiatives for disaster management
best practice manuals and handbooks, and
reports from advisory groups and discussion forums

Click to read the full report here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/inclusive-disaster-and-emergency-management-for-persons-with-disabilities

IDAP Interview Series: Interview with Nirmita Narasimhan

nirmita — 2017-11-26T09:56:06Z

IDIA Disability Access Programme did an interview with Nirmita Narasimhan. This interview was conducted by Madhavi Singh and Anusha Reddy. The interview was transcribed by Veda Singh, IDIA intern and student at Jindal Global Law School.

Read the original published by IDIA Law here

Our interview in this series features Nirmita Narasimhan, a Policy Director with the Centre for Internet and Society. Nirmita did her LL.B. from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University in 2002. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in German and a Ph.D. in Music. As a part of CIS she has done extensive work on web accessibility and was involved in drafting the Indian National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility. She has worked closely with different departments of the Government of India to bring accessibility into their policies and programmes.

In recognition of her path-breaking work in the field of digital accessibility, she has received numerous awards such as the National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (2010), the NIVH (National Institute for the Visually Handicapped) Excellence Award (2011) and the NCPEDP-Emphasis Universal Design award in 2016. She played a key role in amending the Indian Copyright Act to incorporate exceptions for people with print disabilities and launched the widely acclaimed nationwide Right to Read campaigns.

Nirmita’s experience is not just limited to policy work – she is a widely published author and has assisted national and international bodies in the creation of several reports on promoting accessibility rights of people with disabilities.

This interview was conducted by Madhavi Singh and Anusha Reddy. The interview was transcribed by Veda Singh, IDIA intern and student at Jindal Global Law School. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Could you please describe to us the exact nature of your disability?

I have something called Stargardt disease. For me it came when I was 9 or so. When I started, I could read with the help of a magnifying glass and I would enlarge things to read and now I completely rely on screen reading software.

Could you please describe to us the reasonable accommodation provided by your school and college, if any?

In school nothing! I used to read and write using a magnifying glass –reading was a bit of a struggle. My handwriting was really bad and people didn’t understand it. I never asked for anything. Only for my Board exams I had asked for a writer because that’s something you really can’t risk.

Most schools use boards to teach. How did you manage?

No, it just depended on the individual teacher and maybe I was also very inhibited at that time in my life. I wouldn’t go up to the teacher and simply say “please read it out.” Consequently, I always regretted that I was not good at math, because it was always on the board. I managed back then with the help of my parents and sister.

You have a large number of educational qualifications to your name. You initially studied German and Carnatic music and only pursued law later. What factors influenced you in deciding to study law?

It may not be anything glamourous as really being passionate about it. But going back to German – I really liked the language, and more so due to the teaching methods because this was the first time I was out of a classroom setting into a setting where there were 10-12 students and the teachers were really good and used unconventional methods. They were accommodative about exams. The teacher could write exams for me or tell me what to do – it was not like a fixed system. Whenever a system came into play, inaccessibility also came into play. Whenever it was an individual, and usually somebody who was not heartless, it was pretty okay.

One time in an exam, they gave a printout, and I couldn’t read it. At that time, I wrote the one answer I could, left the rest of the question, gave the paper and walked out. When the results were declared, I got an A or A+! I was shocked. I went to the teacher and said “How can you do this to me?” He said “I know that had you been able to read it, you would’ve written because I see you every day in class. That was probably wrong of us and we should have ensured that you could’ve read the paper.” I think that was a unique experience. It happens to very few people and it certainly never happens very often in one’s lifetime, unless you’re extraordinarily lucky. But these kinds of experiences during my graduation really helped get a better sense of the world.

After that I started my M.A. When you’re trying to do translation you keep referring to a dictionary. Until my M.A., I used to keep enlarging a basic dictionary into such thick volumes that I couldn’t even carry them. I realised that this couldn’t go on all my life and beyond a point I could not expect my father or mother to read out, because they did not know German and would not always be with me. So, I thought that this is not going to work out and at that time I gave the law entrance exam.

As for music, I did my diploma while I was doing my B.A. I didn’t consciously take up music immediately after my B.A. because people thought that was the obvious career for me since I had a visual disability and that really irritated me. After having finished my law, somewhere along the way I thought that so what if music is the expected career for someone who is visually impaired, it’s just something I wanted to do.

My main motive was actually not to fall into things which people expect are easy. When I was joining law many people said “You shouldn’t join law, you won’t be able to refer to anything.” I got so annoyed and would say – “Listen it’s my life, if I’m going to live for 85 years and if I waste one year in between, I have no problems. So why does it bother you? I don’t mind failure, but at least let me try. If I can’t, I’ll leave it and go back to sociology or some other subjects.” So, that’s why I got into law, and I have no regrets. It was tough for multiple reasons.

Out of all your diverse educational courses (law, Carnatic music and German) with their varied teaching methodology and course work which field do you think was the most exclusionary of people with disabilities and which one was the most accommodative?

I think it depends on the institution. It’s not fair to compare Delhi University with JNU. JNU was more open and the teachers were creative in the ways they taught, recognising individual abilities. It was completely different from DU which had approximately 80 people in a class and typically the lecturer came, gave a lecture and left. I had a good experience in JNU, because it was not bound by systems and is generally a good place to study.

The Faculty for Music and Fine Arts at DU was also very accommodative, especially so because my Guru ensured that I got what I needed. However I found studying law to be really difficult – at that time I didn’t have any books. If I would go to the library, each and every book you pick up would be underlined with a pen. If you try to scan it – at that time the technology was very slow but even if I was ready to do that, if something is underlined the scan is obsolete. How much can one human being read out to you – a constitutional law book is of 300-1000 pages? You have to refer to so many books!

So, I couldn’t read any book, I didn’t know where to start. Then I was actually forced to rely on these dukkhis. I think the main reason they were useful is that they weren’t underlined, I could purchase them, tear them and scan them. By that time I had also been introduced to computers, and had bought an OCR having paid $1000 for it at that time. Even after that since the paper quality was not good I couldn’t read much.

I know this is probably an awful thing to say, and though I would’ve loved to have a more nuanced understanding of the law but it required me to read a lot which I was unable to do – not because I didn’t want to but because I just couldn’t.

You were an exceptional student – topper of your batch and a gold medalist. To what extent was your hunger for success fueled by your desire to demonstrate your capabilities and to not let your vision impairment become your defining characteristic?

Is my success driven by my desire to show the world? No. Even when I did law– forget showing other people, I just needed to do something “normal” or something that other people were doing – something that is a profession, that’s it. Everything else I did was not to prove anything. After a point, I didn’t really think much about having a disability it’s just a part of who you are. I just wanted to study well.

You have worked in the field of policy research, as a lawyer in a corporate law firm as well as in advocacy, how do you think these professions are different in terms of the obstacles they pose to lawyers with disabilities? Have there been any reasonable accommodation?

Policy research is my current work. The fact that I am currently using technology and my office is pro-accessibility shows that reasonable accommodation is provided here. I tried both courts and corporate law, they were never areas I wanted to be in permanently but I thought having studied law I should have some kind of exposure. At that point of time there were a number of documents, annexures, etc. and to file them you could always hire somebody, but it wasn’t something you could have done for yourself– this was around 2002. And in the corporate field, what I found difficult was working with track changes and deadlines. I was not very excited by the work to stick it out and really prove a point. I know some people that did. I think you need to be motivated enough to tackle the issue, I was not motivated enough by the people to conquer these issues and it didn’t excite me.

You started your career in law with Mr. Rungta. Could you kindly let us know your reasons for choosing to work for a blind lawyer?

I wanted to know how he worked. If you mean whether it was difficult getting into other law firms, yes it was. I did try to ask people in firms but they were completely not open to having me. One or two said that we could have a trial – without pay however, to which I asked if they were paying other juniors, and if so then I didn’t want to join. I worked with Mr. Rungta for a few months and then moved on.

This is a problem most students face wherein employers are apprehensive of hiring people with disabilities, so what advice would you give especially to the corporate field?

I think it is a really negative attitude – people see what you cannot do and not what you can do. And at some point everyone has certain skills, and you as an employer need to be discerning– it shows how smart you are whether you can identify how to tap into that person’s skill or not.

It’s not the time for people to be telling them what they cannot do. The students already know that tasks are difficult for them – they don’t need to hear it from their employers too. So, I think there is a huge issue there. It’s for them to figure out and work with the person to see how to make it happen. It can happen! It might not be exactly the same thing that you envisaged but something can be worked out.

I never came across an employer who was willing to do this. Believe me, I’ve gone from door to door after I finished my law degree and it was a very demotivating time. I feel that it is sad especially now with the kind of technology we have. Maybe at that time I could agree and understand their concerns that I wouldn’t be able to look up case law, but things are different now. Another problem is that the student does not know the range of the work there is, hence it becomes difficult to articulate what he/she wants/can do. I think it is important, even for institutions to ensure that they help place their students, in some of these big law firms, starting from internships.

If you had to tell employers why they should hire people with disability, what would it be?

Do not judge a person merely by virtue of whether he/ she has a disability. Be fair and give them a chance as well. There are many people who became great, just because they got a break. There is great value in making your work place more inclusive and diverse. One can evolve work arounds for most issues and technology has made many things possible.

As a Policy Director with the Centre for Internet and Society, you have done extensive work on web accessibility for persons with disabilities. Given that technology has been an enabler for persons with disabilities, do you believe that the government and society (technologists/businesses/start-ups) have a responsibility to design keeping accessibility in mind from the very beginning?

Definitely, there are no two ways about it. They should, but they aren’t doing it. The first policy on accessibility was in 2009 by the NIC and it continued to remain inaccessible. The second one in 2013 was the national electronic accessibility policy. However, even today many websites are not accessible. After that policy, so many government initiatives, some 700 mobile applications, etc. came up, of which most are inaccessible.

Now everything is on mobile apps, whether private or government, so we did a lot of studies on that and wrote about it. We put together a set of guidelines and submitted them to the government to look at– otherwise there’s really no point in Digital India or Inclusive India. Of course the situation is now vastly changed, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was passed in December 2016 and now makes compliance with accessibility standards in different domains mandatory, hopefully this will now be a game changer. It is binding not only on the government, but on the private sector as well.

It is not just a question of ‘responsibility’ –the government’s responsibility to its citizens is also not just regarding disability but about inclusiveness and the kind of society you want to be. It is about being nice and fair not just because you are responsible. It’s how you want your society to evolve.

Very often I think the most accessible products benefit everyone in society. It’s not just a person with disability that is getting benefit out of it. Do you agree?

So a lot of accessibility features came up as just a market feature, for example – in the U.S., so many people read audiobooks, they just listen while they’re driving to their place of work. Another example – those squeaky shoes children wear could help a mother who is blind know where her child is moving. You can say subtitles are for deaf persons, but for a Telugu movie, people who cannot understand Telugu also can go watch it now. I think every accessibility feature has a use. So, for society and the government accessibility should be a universal goal.

For private players a lot of times when you speak to them about accessibility they’re clueless or they think it is an expensive process which requires special knowledge. Do you have anything to say to such private entities like Flipkart, or Ola?

I think they’re not recognising the situation. If there are 1.3 billion people that are disabled in the world, there are 150 million people in India that are disabled – they need to realise that it is a huge market out there. Blind people are using Uber and not Ola. If they made their application accessible their market would grow. For Ola, for example it’ll ask me to rate my previous drive, and it only gives the option of 3 star with a screen reader – I can’t increase or decrease it. Now if I keep giving 3 stars only, I won’t get a driver the next time (laughs)! Uber and Amazon, both are entirely accessible and they’re international brands. You should ensure that your service is accessible in the starting itself when it is not expensive. Later it becomes more expensive and difficult to do. Private entities really need to look more into their diversity and it shouldn’t just be something they do for CSR, it is good business. It’s a good contribution to society.

Recently, in a move to digitise the courts in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the integrated case management system of the Supreme Court. Given that this move could be a game changer for lawyers and litigants with disabilities, do you believe that accessibility of such platforms will be given foremost importance by the government? If not, what steps can we take to ensure that it is given importance?

The RPWD Act 2016 requires all legal services, documents etc. uploaded to be accessible. If this is not done, it would be a tragedy. Just like the case of the Digital Library of India which has over 5 lakh books, most of which are image files and inaccessible. The government should ensure that this mistake is never again replicated. The website and the documents should be accessible as per notified standards. When you’re uploading documents, sometimes you might need scanned versions in which case you must have an unofficial version or some alternative that is accessible. Even if it is for tracking new cases, or filing things through apps, it should all be accessible as per guidelines – that’s the bottom line. So, involve the experts right from the beginning.

You have worked on digitization of books and general accessibility of educational resources for persons with disabilities. What in your opinion is the most resource efficient solution to the book famine currently plaguing students with print disabilities?

Every time a publisher publishes a book, they should give an accessible PDF to the public library or they should give it to the Sugamya Pustakalaya, which is an accessible online library. They’re anyway creating a PDF, they can make it accessible. As we get more organisations to connect to the library and network, you can reach out to all the students who go to these organisations. Publishers should also consider creating and commercially selling accessible format books such as e-text and audio books.

Could you tell us about your experience so far, in interacting and working with different government departments as part of various projects? As a policy researcher and advocate with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities, what are the biggest obstacles you face in effectively lobbying for a change?

I think the obstacles are similar to the issues that you face typically while working with the Government on any issue, not just accessibility. It’s about meeting the right person. If you’re interacting only with one person, then that person gets transferred or the other people don’t know about it. I think that they need to see accessibility as something which cuts across every issue, not just something for the disabled, and that’s not happening. One also comes across people who do not consider accessibility a priority issue.

A lot of students with disabilities in India, even after the completion of their education, are not in a position to compete with their able-bodied counterparts. They don’t possess soft skills like knowing how to spell correctly, socializing and corresponding with others and speaking correct English. How can this be addressed at a micro as well as macro level?

I think there is a need for more organisations who are trying to prepare candidates after their education to deal with a corporate situation. Otherwise you’re just suddenly taken and put in a place you don’t fully understand. People might be conscious about their English or other things. If not on the individual level, if corporates are hiring they may also consider seeking help from and supporting such organisations.

You should also have policies for accommodation of persons with disabilities. It is useful to have mentors, networks or groups where they can share experiences and exchange ideas on how they tackle different situations.

What can law colleges do to make the educational experience better for law students with disabilities?

I think starting with the college level or institutions –I feel what we learn there shapes our confidence and grasp of the subject – where it is important to ensure that at least the reading list is available as accessible digital copy. I wouldn’t even accept if they say “2 out of the 10 on the reading list are available and that’s enough for you”, if you’re giving the 10 options to other students to pick from, even these students should get such an opportunity. They must also ensure that the admission process/ entrance exam is accessible.

Just getting admission is not enough if institutions can’t provide the required resources. Once that first step is done, they should consciously have a committee of students and teachers who can help in the process of studying, getting internships, or talking on their behalf to firms or other organisations. They may also consider accessible exam practices suited to the needs of different students. There are several things that can be done, institutions should evolve processes and practices based on discussions with their students with disabilities.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/news/idap-interview-series-interview-x-with-nirmita-narasimhan

GST - A Barrier to Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities

nirmita — 2017-06-25T14:15:05Z

The Centre of Internet & Society made a submission on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will be coming into play from July 2017 onwards. In this blog post Nirmita Narasimhan assesses the impact of GST on persons with disabilities.


Logo of Shuttleworth Foundation above

The GST Acts - Central Goods and Services Tax Act, Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act and the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act passed on 12 April 2017 and the subsequent notification of the Revised GST Rate for Certain Goods on 11th June 2017 have serious and severe implications on basic rights and freedoms for persons with disabilities, hindering them from living independently and pursuing education, and employment. This note outlines the impact of the GST measures as well as recommendations to ensure that the rights of persons with disabilities are not compromised.

Problem Statement

As per the 2011 census, India has over 21 million people with disabilities which is around 2.17% of the population. Persons with disabilities face many hurdles in education and employment which is reflected in the low effective literacy rate of 59%, far below the national level of 74.04% as well as a low work participation rate at 36.3%.[1]

Lower levels of literacy and employment in turn imply lower income levels for this group. Thus, additional support through policy, financial and operational measures is required to help persons with disabilities participate fully in the economy. The new GST rules however, seek to impose tax on assistive technologies and goods and services which are essential for the advancement of persons with disabilities, hampering their mobility and ability to participate in education and employment thus further compounding the disadvantages already faced by this group.

Main Concerns

The specific GST provisions that negatively impact persons with disabilities include:

5% GST on Braille typewriters, Braille paper, Braille watches and Braillers (originally set to 18% for typewriters and 12% for Braille paper and watches and reduced after protests from organizations like the National Centre for Promotion of Employment of Disabled People (NCPEDP), the Disability Rights Organisations Forum (DROF), and various regional groups)[2]
12% GST on Orthopaedic appliances, including crutches, surgical belts and trusses; splints and other fracture appliances; artificial parts of the body; hearing aids and other appliances which are worn or carried, or implanted in the body, to compensate for a defect or disability. Hearing aids have also been listed under the list of goods with nil taxes, which is contradictory.
18% GST on motor vehicles for persons with disabilities.
Braille books are exempt from the tax while other Braille implements are not.
IT software, consulting and support services, online text, audio and video, software downloads etc. have all been classified but no GST rate has been quoted, which implies that they are taxed at 18%. This means software like screen readers, assistive software for persons with cognitive disabilities, online text etc. which are essential aspects of communications and information access for persons with disabilities will also be taxed at 18%, which will severely hamper their ability to communicate and even carry out daily tasks.

GST – Hampering Accessibility and Inclusion

Under the existing tax regime, many of these goods have traditionally been exempt from indirect taxes such as VAT, excise and customs. Even with the exemptions, assistive technologies have not been affordable. However, with the addition of GST, the situation becomes even more dire. For instance, according to India Today, the current market price for a Braille typewriter is about INR 34,000[3], or over 20 times higher than the monthly income of an impoverished urban Indian. Even with the new 5 percent GST (a reduction from the previous 18 percent), this would work out to INR 35,700. Given that 29.5 percent of the total population of India remained below the poverty line in 2011-12 and had a monthly per capita consumption of less than INR 972 in rural areas and INR 1407 in urban areas, [4] assistive technology would be prohibitively expensive even for the average Indian, let alone persons with disabilities.

GST – Discriminatory against Persons with Disabilities

The proposed GST on assistive technology is not only detrimental to the use of assistive technology, it discriminates against the right to equality of persons with disabilities.

Tools necessary for people pursuing their livelihood, such as agricultural implements and hand tools such as spades, shovels, mattocks, etc. used in agriculture, horticulture and forestry are exempt from any tax. However, assistive technologies which are just as vital for the education and livelihood of persons with disabilities, have been included in the list of items taxed under GST. While the Government of India’s move to protect the livelihood of agricultural workers is commendable, it needs to equally protect the right to livelihood of persons with disabilities who are working - 31% of whom are in the agricultural sector and will suffer from the imposition of GST.

GST – Impacting Mobility

The proposed GST on motor vehicles for persons with disabilities also impacts their right to mobility as per Article 41(2) of the Persons with Disabilities Act which calls for the government of India to “promote the personal mobility of persons with disabilities at affordable cost” through measures including incentives and concessions. The imposition of such a high tax on car purchases by persons with disabilities is in direct contravention of this.

Legal Framework

The proposed GST implementation and tax on products and services that are critical for persons with disabilities to pursue independence, literacy and employment with dignity runs counter to both national and international law to which India is a signatory.

Article 38 of the Constitution of India also requires the government to minimize inequalities in income, status, facilities and opportunities among individuals and groups of people.

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, enjoin the government to utilise the capacity of persons with disabilities by providing appropriate environment (Art 3(2) ) and take necessary steps to ensure reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities (Art 3(5)).

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which India has signed and ratified, calls on nations to promote the development and adoption of assistive technologies and devices for persons with disabilities, again “giving priority to technologies at an affordable cost.” (Article 4 (g)). Additional provisions include:

Art 4 – General Obligations asks states parties to take into account the protection and promotion of the human rights of persons with disabilities in all policies and programmes;
Art 5 (3) - asks States Parties to take all appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided
Article 20 also requires nations to facilitate access to mobility aids, assistive technologies and other intermediaries, and requires that they be made available at affordable cost.
Art 24 on Education enjoins States parties to ensure persons with disabilities have access to inclusive education, that reasonable accommodation is provided and use of Braille, alternative modes and formats is facilitated
Art 27 on Work and employment required nations to protect the rights of persons with disabilities, on an equal basis with others, to just and favourable conditions of work
Art 29 on participation in political and public life advocates the creation of an environment that enables persons with disabilities to participate fully and effectively in the conduct of public affairs

International Practices

While developed countries do levy some tax on assistive technology and devices used by persons with disabilities, these are typically lower than the general rates. Countries in the EU levy lower VAT rates on medical equipment for persons with disabilities [5] for instance 6% in Belgium and 3% in Luxembourg. However, a point to be noted here is that the literacy and employment rates for persons with disabilities in these countries are much higher than in India, where the low literacy and work participation mean that even low levels of taxation on assistive technology make items prohibitively expensive.

An alternative approach more suitable in the Indian context, is that followed by developing countries such as Brazil and the Philippines. In Brazil, which has around 16 million [6] persons with disabilities, the import and sale of assistive technologies such as wheelchairs, Braille machines, calculators with voice synthesizers and hearing aids are exempt from major federal taxes. In addition, persons with disabilities wishing to buy a car also enjoy exemptions from several federal and municipal taxes. [7] In the Philippines, where 1.57 % of the population [8] have some form of disability, the Republic Act 9442[9] guarantees a 20 per cent discount for persons with disabilities and also provides assistance for education. Discounted goods and services include:

Restaurants, hotels and other recreation centers
Theaters, concert halls, carnivals, and other cultural and leisure centers
The purchase of medicines from drugstores
Medical, diagnostic and laboratory fees
Medical and dental service, including doctors’ fees
Domestic air and sea travel
Public railways, skyways, and bus fare

In addition to this, Republic Act 10754 [10] adds an exemption from the 12 percent VAT for persons with disabilities as well. Both of these represent a significant discount.

Conclusion

We fully concur with the representations made by different organisations working for persons with disabilities in India seeking a complete roll back of GST for persons with disabilities. India has in the past, refrained from taxing the disabled deliberately, keeping in mind their particular needs and circumstances and nothing has changed in the past few years to warrant this move. Persons with disabilities remain below the poverty line, without access to information, resources and the ability to enjoy even their basic human rights to live a life of freedom, independence, dignity, inclusion and participation. It is unconscionable to place such articles of basic need such as crutches and wheel chairs without which a person cannot even move on the same level as other goods. Certainly these are more basic than other items such as glass bangles or kajal which are not subject to GST or semi-precious stones which are taxed at a very minimum.
Rolling back GST would be in accordance with national and international legal commitment. India cannot place itself on the same level as countries in the EU for taxing the disabled; we do not have the same infrastructure and resources which these countries have made available for their disabled citizens, nor the social security measures which they offer. They are better placed in terms of development and progress of the disabled, with regard to education, employment and daily living. We cannot impose 18% tax on vehicles for the disabled while we are not providing them with a completely functional accessible transport network, accessible roads and a barrier-free environment. A very small percentage of persons with disabilities in India is actually living a full and complete life with access to resources and aids, an imposition of tax will further minimise chances of progress in the years to come of empowerment and emancipation of persons with disabilities. India has been a thought leader in the field of disability internationally in terms of its policies and served as an inspiration to countries around us. We were one of the earliest countries to sign and ratify the UNCRPD, as well as the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty more recently in 2014. We do not lack in spirit, however do not always follow up with action. The roll back on GST would be an appropriate move in line with our commitment to enable human rights for persons with disabilities and empower them with the use of technology and other tools and resources.
Specified exemptions for use of assistive technologies- Technology has proven a source of tremendous empowerment to persons with disabilities. Given that most ICTs are to be taxed at 18%, we strongly urge the government to specifically exclude all ICTs and downloaded software and content which are intended for persons with disabilities from tax. By imposing tax on an enabling technology, it would be tantamount to imposing tax on a sensory organ, i.e., by imposing tax on a hearing aid or screen reader, which would enable a deaf person to hear/ a blind person to read, it would be like imposing tax on ears or eyes. We hence strongly urge the government to reconsider the present move and set right the error which has been committed by subjecting goods and services for persons with disabilities to tax. We recommend review, complete roll back and explicit exemption on all goods and services for persons with disabilities from the purview of GST.

23 June, 2017

[1]. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/population_enumeration.html

[2]. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-otherstates/drag-seeks-rollback-of-gst-ondisability-aids/article19123085.ece

[3]. http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/gst-goods-and-services-tax-arun-jaitley-narendra-modi-disabledbraille/1/967920.html

[4]. http://planningcommission.nic.in/reports/genrep/pov_rep0707.pdf

[5]. http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_ works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf

[6]. https://www.disabled-world.com/news/south-america/

[7]. http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/tax-reduction-for-people-with-disabilities

[8]. https://psa.gov.ph/content/persons-disability-philippines-results-2010-census

[9]. http://www.ncda.gov.ph/disability-laws/republic-acts/republic-act-9442/

[10]. http://www.ncda.gov.ph/disability-laws/implementing-rules-and-regulations-irr/irr-of-ra-10754-anact-expanding-the-benefits-and-privileges-of-persons-with-disability-pwd/

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/gst-a-barrier-to-human-rights-for-persons-with-disabilities

Government of Madhya Pradesh initiates ICT Accessibility in Public Communication

nirmita — 2013-01-31T10:17:13Z

The Centre for Internet and Society, joined hands with Daisy Forum of India member Arushi in Bhopal to submit a request for a notification mandating that all communication by the Government of Madhya Pradesh should be accessible to persons with disabilities.

Specifically, it was requested that the government ensure that all websites are WCAG 2.0 compliant, that Unicode font is used for all regional language content and that content should be in accessible formats such as Daisy and E-pub. The submission can be found by clicking here.

In January 2013, the Government of Madhya Pradesh issued a notification in Hindi (scanned PDF version of the notification here) requesting all departments to comply with WCAG 2.0 and use Unicode font. The five page notification goes into detail regarding the need for these standards. We welcome this move by the Government of Madhya Pradesh and appreciate the efforts of Arushi in taking up this issue. We are happy to be associated with this initiative.

Click to read the original notification received from the Government of Madhya Pradesh (Image files in Zip folder, size 5.3 MB).

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/govt-of-mp-initiates-ict-accessibility-in-public

First Meeting on a National Policy for Web Accessibility

nirmita — 2011-08-25T08:38:03Z

The first meeting to discuss having a national policy for web accessibility to ensure universal and inclusive participation was held at the Centre for Internet and Society's office on 7 November 2008. It was aimed at formulating an action plan to work with the government and other private and public bodies to ensure conformity to accessibility standards for web sites.

The first meeting to discuss making compliance with web accessibility standards a part of the national policy agenda was held today (7 November 2008) at the CIS office. Fifteen participants representing organizations from the disability sector, media and law firms came together to discuss the why, what and how of mandatory compliance with web accessibility standards for Indian government web sites.

The meeting started off with brief introductions of the participants, followed by a presentation by Rahul Gonsalves introducing the concept of and need for web accessibility standards amongst web developers. In his presentation, Rahul gave some examples of the kinds of problems faced by different users of the net and simple solutions to solve these problems. Speaking from the perspective of a web designer, he pointed out that while the total cost of creating an accessible web site is merely about 2-3% more than a normal web site, revamping an existing web site to make it conform to accessibility standards is a more complicated and expensive task. He further clarified that for a website to be accessible, it is not merely enough that it is created in accordance with accessibility standards; all future additions and modifications must be made with accessibility in mind. Hence, persons working on the web site should be initiated into creating accessible web pages.

The second presentation of the day was by Jayna Kothari of Ashira Law Services. Jayna, a lawyer who is well known for taking up disability related cases in Bangalore, talked about the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 (PWD Act) and highlighted provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which came into force in May 2008. She began by talking about the right to access information being a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 19 of our constitution and gave references to various sections in the PWD Act. The Act calls for the setting up of Central and State Co-ordination Committees to ensure that action is taken to give effect to the provisions of the PWD Act and that an accessible, barrier free and inclusive environment is created for persons with disabilities in all spheres such as health, education, employment, transportation, etc. Jayna also highlighted that article 9 of the UNCRPD called for persons with disabilities to have an equal right to access to information and communication. Hence the mandate was not restricted to government web sites only. She opined that we could potentially work with the State and Central Co-ordination Committees to include web accessibility on their agenda of urgent requirements.

Mr Ganesh of Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled talked about intervention at the level of educational organizations and training institutes. He said that instead of merely discussing strategies which are designed to target the Government and get its attention, we also need to work on building awareness amongst the coming generation of web site developers and appeal to schools, training institutes like the NIIT and other educational organizations and centres of learning to disseminate awareness about accessibility right from the beginning. The approach, in other words, has to be both top-down and bottom-up. Ushajee Peri from the Alternative Law Forum (ALF) talked briefly about the Right to Information Act (2005) and said that since the right to information is a fundamental right, we need to carefully analyse provisions of the Act under which we could push for web accessibility.

Mr. L. Subramani from the Deccan Herald talked in brief about media strategy and about how publications could help in creating awareness and pressure. Finally, Meenu Bambani from MPhasiS talked about the 11th Five Year Plan and cited various provisions from it which called for specific measures for disabled persons. After an entire chapter devoted to disability, nothing has as yet been achieved in the year since the plan came into force, even though India has ratified the UNCRPD. Meenu called for immediate action to push the Government for implementation of the chapter on disability in the 11th Five Year Plan. As per the plan, each Government department was to allocate 3% of its funds for supporting disabled persons; this has not been done so far. Meenu believes that 3 December, which is usually celebrated as the World Disabilities Day, should this year be spent in introspection on what we have not achieved and on how we can push the state and government authorities to take their international and national commitments with respect to disabled persons seriously.

There was also a brief discussion on how laws in different countries accommodated web accessibility. For instance in the USA, Section 508 requires web sites of all federal agencies to comply with web accessibility guidelines. In the UK, the Code of Conduct which was brought out by the Disabilities Rights Commission (DRC) under the Disabilities Discrimination Act 2002 (DDA) mandates that persons with disabilities should have the right to access goods, services, facilities and premises on an equal basis as others. Section 2.14 lists the different kinds of services and 2.17 specifically says that a website is a provision of service and hence should be accessible. PAS 78 lays down guidelines for web developers for creating accessible web sites. While some participants expressed curiosity about the actual number of disabled persons using the internet in India, it was generally understood that only by making web sites more accessible could we widen the net of disabled users and enhance universal access and participation.

Another area for intervention was presented by Sunil Abraham in the form of a discussion on the national policy for Open Standards. Sunil said that CIS had given an addendum to the response to the draft national policy on open standards which specifically dealt with web accessibility for disabled and elderly persons. By ensuring that WCAG compliance is inserted in the presentation layer of the Government Interoperability Framework (GIF), which the Government is shortly expected to release, we could make a definite and substantial intervention.

The final conclusions of the meeting were that there were different areas and scopes for intervention and they all had to be simultaneously pursued by different groups. Everyone agreed that we should try and work with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to make all government web sites accessible. Almost all participants felt that while it was not possible to impose web accessibility standards on private entities, we need not restrict ourselves to government web sites in our recommendations and should include at least public listed companies as well. Mr. Subramani felt that working with NASSCOM might be useful for that. Finally it was also decided that an appeal for web accessibility would be put out by CIS at the Walkathon to be organized by Samarthanam on 6 December, since it would be a good platform for spreading awareness and gaining support amongst disabled users, public authorities, organizations and the public at large.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/first-meeting-on-a-national-policy-for-web-access-for-all

First Meeting of the Core Group on Communication and Information Technology

nirmita — 2011-08-17T08:50:29Z

This is a report on the first meeting of the Core Group on Communication and Information Technology, which was held in New Delhi on 5 March 2009.

Following talks with various organisations on collaborating to bring about a policy change for electronic accessibility, the National Centre for Promotion and Employment of Disabled Persons (NCPEDP) constituted a core group on Communication and Information Technology. The first meeting of this group was held in New Delhi on 5 March 2009, between 10.00 am and 1.00 pm. The members of the group include:

Mr. Dipendra Manocha
Mr. Nilesh Singit
Mr. Rahul Gonsalves
Dr. Sam Taraporevala
Mr. Sunil Abraham
Mr. Vijay Krishnamani
Mr. Zamir Dhale

The meeting was convened by Mr. Javed Abidi and co-convened by Ms. Shilpi Kapoor.
The meeting began with a round of introductions and preliminary remarks by all the members. This was followed by a discussion around the issue of web accessibility. Mr. Abidi reaffirmed that the government had issued guidelines making it mandatory for all government web sites to conform to WCAG standards 2.0. The announcement had been made at the E-governance forum meeting at Goa on 12 February. Following this announcement, the first accessible portal of the Government of India, http://www.india.gov.in, had been launched on 17 February. The group felt that in the light of this development, there was no longer a need to take this up as a major issue with the government and it could actively identify and pursue other areas of intervention.

The core group decided that it was best to list issues affecting the disabled in all spheres in great detail and later decide on how best to take these issues up with different government departments. Other than electronic accessibility, there are many areas where accessibility could be improved for persons with disabilities. Mr. Dipendra Manocha and Dr. Sam Taraporevala voiced their concern about the need for amending copyright laws and for having a specific policy governing content from publishers. Dr. Taraporevala explained that there were two ways in which content could be made accessible for the visually challenged; (1) the organisation itself produces the content, and (2) the organisation gets content from outside. Under Section 3 of the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act 1954, all publishers of books and newspapers within the territory of India to which this Act applies have to give a copy of the book to the National Library of Calcutta and three other public libraries identified by the Central Government, within thirty days of publication of the book.

This was seen as a possible point of intervention; the scope of the Act could be expanded to include submission by the publishers of books in an accessible format that could be used by organisations involved in book production for the visually impaired. The organisations could then approach the library concerned instead of individual publishers. Mr. Manocha also raised the issue of the lack of standards for the formats in which these books were produced and lack of clarity as to the identification of a deciding authority for this.

Another critical area for intervention identified by Mr. Manocha is the government’s procurement policy for schools and other institutions. He pointed out that it was very important to ensure that hardware and software procured by schools and educational institutions should be usable with assistive technologies. This mandate should be embedded within the procurement policy itself. There was consensus on the view that the policy is one which should address all disabilities and not relate to persons of specific disabilities. Mr. Manocha further drew attention to the fact that the Solution Exchange Forum was a fruitful space for discussion and action on matters relating for ICT for development, and it has been actively engaging in the past year with issues of accessibility for the blind in the use of emerging technologies.

The next issue which was addressed was the concern that there was no transparency in the government with respect to the total budget allocated to research and development (R&D) in the field of disability. Both Mr. Manocha and Mr. Abidi furnished examples of pointless and wasted efforts on R&D. According to Mr. Manocha Rs. 1.5 crores was spent in designing a keyboard especially for the blind, which was later realised to be unnecessary since blind people everywhere were perfectly capable of and were in fact using normal keyboards. Mr. Abidi also said that lots of money has been spent in inventing the electric wheelchair many times over. It is hence of utmost importance that the Government and the Disability sector should work in tandem to ensure that enough money is being spent on R&D which is relevant to the disability sector. It was felt that there should be a committee set up for this purpose and a clear policy or guidelines set out for the disbursement of funds for constructive R&D.

Mr. Abidi stressed that the group is no longer looking at dealing with just the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for addressing its needs. With the presence of documents such as the UNCRPD, The National Policy, and the Eleventh Five Year Plan, we are in a position to approach any and all of the concerned departments. Overall there were several areas identified for policy/guideline intervention, and the members were divided into sub groups to take up activities in their areas of expertise. Each sub group decided on a time line for itself, within which it would work on and present to the rest of the group guidelines or a draft policy on its chosen area. After a period during which the rest of the group has had time to give inputs, these would be consolidated and taken up for action.

Areas for which groups were formed for policy formulation are

Publishing and public documents
Procurement policy
Monitoring mechanisms for commissioning R&D
Software accessibility guidelines
Accessibility for the white goods sector
TV and broadcasting standards
Assistive technologies (OCRs, TTS, Speech to text, screen readers, Daisy players and other assistive aids)

It was agreed that the implementation and monitoring of these policies was just as crucial a task as the planning stage. The meeting finally concluded with a vote of thanks to all the members and a commitment to revert on tasks set out within the stipulated time frames.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/first-meeting-of-the-core-group-on-communication-and-information-technology

eSpeak Training in Hindi Language

nirmita — 2015-10-04T08:43:22Z

National Association for the Blind, Kullu hosted a 2 day training in the use of eSpeak in Hindi language with NVDA for its special educators, in-service blind, and blind students. The programme was attended by 20 participants who came from all parts of Himachal Pradesh.

The event started with a round of introductions and expectations. Most of the participants expressed their desire to learn Hindi typing in order to either use it in their workplace or use it during their studies.

This was followed by an introduction to NVDA. NVDA was new to most of the participants, and they were amazed to know the benefits of NVDA compared to other commercial screen readers.

The next session was dedicated to installation of NVDA, introducing different menus and configurations options.

This was followed by a comprehension of Hindi text. Barring just 2 candidates, all others were able to understand the text immediately.

The day 2 started with Hindi keyboard. Participants were taught the use of Inscript keyboard. They were also taught configuring hindi keyboard in Windows.

Writing words and short sentences was the next item in the training, in which most of the participants excelled beyond expectations. Most of them started writing sentences with ease.

The post noon session was reserved for spreading awareness about different sources for obtaining accessible reading material, including Bookshare; android and its advantages, different sources for obtaining easy finance for purchase of computers and laptops, information about ADIP schemes.

The workshop was covered by E-TV HP and they filmed the participants typing in Hindi.

The event ended with a vote of thanks from the President NAB Kullu- Mrs. Shalini Vats.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/espeak-training-in-hindi-language-1

Enabling Elections

nirmita — 2014-05-10T00:12:00Z

For making the 2014 General Elections in India participatory and accessible for voters with disabilities the Centre for Law and Policy Research and the Centre for Internet and Society have come up with a report. The report addresses the barriers that people with disabilities face during elections and recommends solutions for the same.

Executive Summary

The report examines three main areas:

The barriers that people with disabilities face at the time of elections.
The legal framework around this issue.
The measures which need to be taken to eliminate the barriers in the pre-voting phase, during voting phase and also post-voting phase, so as to enhance the participation of voters with disabilities.

Access to the public sphere and full political participation is a matter of right for persons with disabilities and the state is constitutionally mandated to enforce this right. The rights of voters with disabilities are examined under the constitutional provisions, the Representation of People’s Act 1951, the relevant directions of the Supreme Court and the international conventions. This report also considers international best practices while making recommendations, to the extent that they are suitable and practical in the Indian context.

This report looks at Electoral Participation in two dimensions:

“Pre-electoral Participation” and
“Actual Electoral Participation”

The report then goes on to make recommendations for enhancing accessibility in both these categories.

On Pre-electoral Participation, the report inter alia recommends the following:

Opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in public consultations.
Immediate outreach programs for higher voter registrations.
Making election material and candidate guides available in different formats such as large print, Braille and audio formats upon request so that voters can have full knowledge of the candidate they want to vote for.
Providing information for voters about locations which have special access, wheelchair facilities, technological assistance for visually impaired, etc.

On Actual Electoral Participation, we inter alia recommend the following:

Accessible polling sites.
Training election staff to be sensitive to diverse needs of voters.
Enabling privacy and independent voting by persons with disabilities.
Arranging for mobile polling booths.
Making EVM’s compatible and accessible such as by providing for Braille, large print.
Tactile buttons, 'sip and puff' and audio devices.

The report also recommends the need to monitor participation of voters with disabilities in the forthcoming elections.There is a need to collect data, surveys and studies in the pre-election, election and post-election phases.

Click here to download and read the full report (PDF, 4.5 MB)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/enabling-elections

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities

nirmita — 2013-07-30T08:29:06Z

The Centre for Internet and Society is proud to announce the launch of its first publication, the “e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities" in collaboration with the G3ict (Global Initiative for Inclusive Information Communication Technologies) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union), and sponsored by the Hans Foundation. The handbook is compiled and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan. Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, Secretary-General, International Telecommunication Union has written the preface, Dr. Sami Al-Basheer, Director, ITU-D has written the introduction and Axel Leblois, Executive Director, G3ict has written the foreword.

The book is based on the online e-accessibility toolkit for policy makers (www.e-accessibilitytoolkit.org) which was released by G3ict and ITU in February 2010. The book has contributions from over 60 experts around the world on ICT accessibility and is a most valuable addition to policy makers and regulators, advocacy and research organisations and persons with disabilities on the implementation of the ICT dispositions of the UNCRPD. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to all the contributors, G3ict and the ITU for making this possible.

The handbook was released by Smt.Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Dept of Higher Education, Ministry of HRD at the International Conference on Enabling Access to Education through ICT held from 27 to 30 October 2010 in New Delhi. The printed book comes with a CD containing its daisy version. It is divided into four chapters:

The Accessibility Imperative
Policies and Programs
Solutions that Work
Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective
Appendix A: Accessibility Policy Comparison Grid

Also there are two appendices:

Appendix A: Accessibility Policy Comparison Grid
Appendix B: Online Toolkit Site Map

The topics mainly focus on:

What is ICT accessibility?
What the CRPD says about ICT accessibility
How to best assess disability demographics and the impact of ICT barriers
Identifying ICT accessibility legislative, regulatory, policy and programs gaps versus CRPD guidelines and mandates
Engaging Disabled Persons Organizations and other key stakeholders in policy making
Policy development by area
Setting standards
Public procurement
Promoting assistive technologies
Promoting accessible product development & Universal Design
International cooperation
Wireless phones
Radios
Television
Remote consoles
Landline phones
Websites
Personal computers
Software
Electronic kiosks
Broadband services
Country analysis:
United States of America
United Kingdom
Australia
Germany
Portugal
New Zealand
Canada
Ireland
Italy
Sweden
European Union
Japan
Korea
Developing countries
Summary

The publication of this book would not have been possible without the generous support of The Hans Foundation, to whom we would like to express our sincere thanks. We trust that readers will find this book most useful in their accessibility work.

The complete version of the book is available in pdf and daisy formats. These can be downloaded by clicking on the links below:

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook: PDF
e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities: Daisy Format

Note: Daisy users can read the book in Amis or Emerson

e-Accessibility Policy Handbook for Persons with Disabilities: Braille File

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/e-accessibility-handbook

Developing Screen Reader and Text-to-Speech Synthesizer

nirmita — 2016-10-12T16:04:23Z

The Hans Foundation is funding us to do a project on developing a text-to-speech software in 15 Indian languages over a period of two-and-a-half years. The following are the quarterly programmatic reports indicating the progress made in the project.

Quarterly Reports

Monthly Updates

2014

2015

2016

Profiles

The profiles of the team members working on the NVDA and eSpeak project can be accessed here. An overview of CIS work of Accessibility Work can be seen here.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/resources/nvda-text-to-speech-synthesizer

Department of Information Technology Meeting on a National Policy on E-Accessibility

nirmita — 2011-09-22T12:32:54Z

On 30 January 2009, the Department of Information Technology hosted a meeting in New Delhi bringing together important stakeholders to discuss the issue of electronic accessibility for the disabled and persons with special needs in India.

Creating a barrier free internet is vital to creating a pluralistic and democratic virtual environment, where all groups irrespective of disability or levels of literacy are able to access culture and knowledge goods and services which are available on the internet today. Since its inception last year, CIS has been campaigning for legislative, administrative and legal interventions in the area of web accessibility for the print disabled and working with different groups towards the common goal of having a National Policy on Electronic Accessibility in India.

On 30 January, the Department of Information Technology (DIT) called a meeting of all stakeholders to discuss the issue of web accessibility for disabled persons and persons with special needs. The meeting was attended by 34 key persons from the Government and private organisations around India. Sunil Abraham (Director--Advocacy, CIS) and Nirmita Narasimhan (Programme Manager, CIS) were amongst the attendees (a complete list of attendees is given below).

The meeting was chaired by N. Ravi Shankar, Joint Secretary, DIT, who in his opening remarks briefed the gathering about the initiatives of the Government in this area. He talked about the Government’s goal of providing Universal Accessibility and Internet for all. He informed the gathering that the DIT had already initiated schemes for ICT empowerment of visually impaired/hearing impaired children; under these schemes, 21 ICT Vocational Centers had already been set up and 100 additional ICT vocational centers would be set up in phase II. Additionally, he explained that the issue of Universal Accessibility had been internationally addressed at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2008 held in December 2008 in Hyderabad. He stressed the need for initiating inclusive developmental activities in the e-governance programme of DIT and language initiatives of TDIL (Technology Development for Indian Languages), in order to increase coverage and diversity, culminating in education for all alongside Internet for all.

Dr. Govind, Senior Director and Head of Department, E-Infrastructure and Internet Governance Division in the Ministry, highlighted the issue of web accessibility for visually impaired and other differently able persons and the need for initiating a concrete action plan for the same.

Javed Abidi, Director, National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People talked at length about the need for web accessibility and proposed that the government should set a time line within which all existing government web sites should be made standards compliant. All new web sites should be created keeping compliance with WCAG 2.0 in mind right from the start and proposed that for existing web sites, we should adopt a staged approach and aim at ensuring complete compliance at least by 2010-2012.

Ms. Neeta Verma, Sr. Technical Director, NIC gave a presentation on the issues related with making web accessibility universal. She said that NIC has formulated guidelines for government websites, in association with DIT and DARPG. Compliance to these guidelines shall make Indian government websites Usable, User Centric and Universally Accessible. She proposed that even the Manual of Procedures (MoP) used in the Govt. should mandate Universal Web Access for Government business and day to day activities. Websites should not only be designed once for accessibility but also need to be sustainable in the long run.

All attendees gave their inputs on the issue of web accessibility. Shri Jaijit from Sun Microsystems stressed the fact that the need for standards was not essential for disabled persons alone, but was necessary for other groups as well, such as illiterate persons. Ms.Shilpi Kapoor from Barrier Break Technologies mentioned that most government web sites had to firstbe be made html compliant in order to be standards compliant and stressed the need for training, resource generation and sensitization. Shri Minocha, Director, NAB felt that a law similar to the one in USA should be implemented which mandates that any web site developed had to be Universally Accessible. He asked the Government. to look at daisy guidelines, digital library and procurement policy for differently abled persons. He strongly urged the Government to take into account not merely standards of website accessibility, but also brouser standards, document standards etc, since an accessible web site was not of much use if the content posted on it was in an inaccessible format. He also appreciated the efforts of NIC and C-DAC towards working for open source and cited the example of the Venezualian Government. He proposed that DIT should initiate a technology development or customization project in this area. Shri Vijaiy Krishnamani from Infosys stressed on the need for creating a common simple usable interface rather than multiple types.

Shri Vijay Kapur from Microsoft proposed for implementation of WCAG1.0 & 2.0 standards to bring out interactivity in web content like Arya and the Clint side document accessibility through the daisy consortium.

Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, CEO, NIXI offered complete support for all initiatives in the area of web accessibility and voiced the opinion that all software produced out of public funds should be made available in the public domain so as to encourage research and innovation. In addition to policy advocacy, he was also supporting a capacity building and awareness workshop on web accessibility for web developers from all over the country which was being organized by CIS in Ghaziabad from Feb 16th-18th. Smt.Jayalakshmi Chittor of CSDMS proposed that an audit process should be evolved to check government web sites for WCAG 2.0 compliance and cited the example of Malta for policy in this area. Some other issues which were stressed time and again by other attendees were the legal mandating of adherence to standards within a fixed time period, adequate representation of Indian language in Unicode format, adherence to WCAG 2.0 and not merely 1.0, supporting voice enabled web sites etc. Sunil Abraham Director Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) lauded the DIT/MCIT for the timely and critical accessibility initiative and strongly endorsed the suggestion to create a national policy document mandating accessibility for all publicly funded electronic infrastructure. CIS offered to provide a comparative analysis of national electronic accessibility policies from developed and developing countries and also prepare a draft policy for DIT/MCIT. Further, he urged DIT/MCIT to advocate for the adoption of the proposed WIPO Treaty for improved access for the blind, visually impaired and other reading disabled put forward by the World Blind Union and knowledge Ecology International.

After the round of discussions the following recommendations were made to the DIT/MCIT:

i) The Government should formulate a national policy to mandate necessary guidelines so that the web sites are standards compliant for universal web accessibility.

ii) Steps should be taken for sensitization and awareness generation towards this issue through trainings, publicity, workshops, conferences.

iii) R&D projects should be initiated for development of screen readers in Indian languages and other tools for universal web access.

Attendees

Shri N. Ravi Shanker, Joint Secretary, DIT, New Delhi - Chairman
Dr. Govind, Sr. Director, DIT, New Delhi
Shri Mohan Ram, ED, ERNET India, New Delhi
Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Additional CEO, NIXI, New Delhi
Shri Javed Abidi, Director, National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP, New Delhi
Shri Dipender Minocha, Director, NAB, R.K. Puram, New Delhi
Ms. Neeta Verma, Sr. Technical Director, NIC, New Delhi
Shri A. Bandopadhyay, GM, Webel Mediatronics Ltd., Kolkata
Mr. Sunil Abraham, Director – Policy, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore
Ms. Shilpi Kapoor, Founder and Managing Director, Net Systems Informatics (I) Pvt. Ltd. and Barrier Break Technologies, Mumbai
Shri Vijay Kapur, Microsoft India, New Delhi
Mr. Rahul Gonsalves, Web Accessibility Consultant, Bangalore
Jyotindra V.Mehta, Advisory Systems Consultant, IBM Global Services India
Mr. Zamir Dhale, Sense International India Office, Ahmedabad Gujarat
Shri Jaijit Bhattacharya, M/s Sun Microsystems, New Delhi
Ms. Jayalakshmi Chittor, CSDMS, Noida, U.P
Shri Manoj Jain, TDIL, DIT, New Delhi
Ms. Gitanjali Sah, UN Solution Exchange, New Delhi
Shri Pradeep Gupta, Managing Director, Cyber Media India Ltd., Gurgaon, Haryana
Shri Vijay Krishnamani, Infosys, New Delhi
Shri Ajai Kumar, C-DAC, Pune
Shri Indranil Das Roy, M/s Webel, Kolkata
Shri Deepak Maheshwari, Microsoft India , New Delhi
Shri Vikas Goswami, Microsoft India, New Delhi
Ms. Helen Mahtani, Programmer, NCPEDP, New Delhi
Shri Muthamma B. Devaya, Senior Program officer, NCPEDP, New Delhi
Ms. Nirmitha Naresimhan, Centre for Internet & Society, Bangalore
Ms. Tejal Tiwari, ERNET India, New Delhi
Shri D.P. Misra, NIC, New Delhi
Shri Sachin Rizal, Sense International (India) Ltd., Ahmedabad Gujarat
Ms. Ritu Srivastava, CSDMS, Noida
Shri Santosh Kumar Gupta, CSDMS, Noida, UP
Shri Rajan Varada, UN Solution Exchange, New Delhi
Shri S.K. Aggarwal, Scientist ‘F’, DIT, New Delhi - Convenor

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/meeting-by-the-dit-on-a-national-policy-on-e-accessibility-at-delhi-on-jan-30th-2009

Copyright Challenges for Print Impaired Persons in India

nirmita — 2011-08-17T08:51:33Z

Print impaired persons in India face several hurdles in accessing reading materials- the biggest one being the Indian Copyright Act 1957

Background

The Indian Constitution guarantees citizens fundamental rights to dignity, to read, to education, to information and to expression.
India has approximately 70 million disabled persons who are unable to participate in the social, cultural and political life of the country because they cannot access materials in the printed form. These include persons with visual disabilities, persons whose physical impairments prevent them from holding or turning pages of a book and persons who have a learning disability like dyslexia. These groups can access reading materials if they are converted into formats which can be accessed by them in an alternate manner using assistive technologies.
Recent developments in technologies such as screen reading and OCR technology, electronic tactile devices, evolution of multiple audio, audio-video and electronic formats, DAISY etc which can be adapted for use in a multiplicity of platforms have opened up innumerable possibilities for persons with different abilities to access information independently and participate in society.
The process of conversion of a printed book into an alternate accessible format such as large print, audio, Braille and electronic formats involves special effort in terms of obtaining permissions from copyright holders, possessing manpower, infrastructure and monitory resources, concerted involvement of intermediary agencies undertaking conversion and the presence of an effective distribution model.

Challenges in India

Today, print impaired persons in India are faced with several problems that hamper their participation in society-

Lack of availability of affordable technological solutions in English as well as local languages
Lack of availability of printed materials in formats that can be accessed using these technologies
Failure on the part of technology and web developers to adhere to principles of universal design which ensure that web sites are accessible to persons with disabilities
Lack of accessible or compatible mainstream technologies to work with special technologies
Lack of an enabling legal regime.

Disability Awareness around the world

The United Nations declared the decade of 1983-1992 as the decade of Persons with Disabilities and the decade of 1993-2002 as the Asian and Pacific decade of persons with disabilities. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force from 2008.
International bodies like the World Wide Consortium (W3C) and the Daisy Consortium have come out with standards and guidelines which will make the web and publications on the web universally accessible.
The World Blind Union (WBU) has recently proposed a Treaty for the Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled, (referred to as the “VIP initiative”) which seeks to harmonise limitations and exceptions at a global level so that countries around the world can freely share knowledge in accessible formats for print impaired persons. This Treaty is now being proposed by three Latin American countries and is presently tabled before the WIPO and is under discussion.

Position in India

The Indian Copyright Act 1957 does not make any provision for the conversion and distribution of books in accessible formats for print impaired persons. Hence organisations serving the print impaired have to get permissions from copyright holders to undertake conversions. Further, Indian organisations are not able to borrow accessible materials from libraries in other countries since the absence of such a provision in our fair dealing clause prevents countries from lending books to print impaired persons in India.
In the case of books published in India, there are no accessible copies readily available in the market and while many publishers in principle are not averse to giving permission, the unwanted fear of piracy and lack of awareness prevents them from allowing organisations to undertake conversions. Consequently print impaired persons are denied the freedom to choose and read any book which is freely available to the public.
In the light of increasing global attention in this matter and in the interests of the large print impaired community in India, we need to have a clear position in our law with regard to converting materials into accessible formats for print challenged persons. It is important to understand this as not merely a legal issue, but also as a social and economic cause. We need to work at various levels to solve this problem:

We need to work towards legally binding norms both at a national as well as international level. We can achieve this by supporting the proposed treaty for improved access for the visually impaired at the WIPO, and by ensuring that necessary amendments are immediately incorporated into the Copyright Act, which afford flexibilities for conversion into accessible formats for print Impaired person.
Publishers, copyright holders, organisations and print impaired persons should work collaboratively towards conversion and distribution of published works in accessible formats. Publishers should give digitised copies of books in an accessible format to recognised organisations serving the print Impaired and in return these organisations should set up a distribution mechanism which will ensure that these accessible books get circulated only within the print impaired community and do not find their way into the mainstream market.
Publishers should explore the large market in India for selling books in electronic, audio and other accessible formats along with the print copy. These copies should be available in the market at the same time and at the same price that the print copy becomes available. In the case of electronic copies, publishers may also consider selling the books at a price which is lesser than the price of the print version since this will not involve cost of paper publication.
Publishers should adopt a standard format for creating digital masters of their publications so that all distribution formats including hard copy print, braille, talking book and digital publications can be derived out of it without wastage of resources on conversions and reproduction of books in accessible formats.
The government should frame incentive schemes for publishers and other persons developing technologies to encourage them to create accessible versions of their content and technologies.
We need to work towards ensuring at least the minimum basic study and reference materials which are required for children with print disabilities to complete their school and college level education in all subjects and languages.
We need to encourage peer to peer models amongst disabled persons and organisations for sharing and generating more accessible content.
We need to work towards establishing public libraries and repositories of accessible content with a healthy system of exchange amongst them.
Work towards generating more Indian language content and developing technologies such as text to speech synthesisers which support regional Indian language content.
We need to work towards facilitating cross-border exchange of books so that persons in India get exposure to foreign authors and also ensure that persons abroad are able to read Indian literature. Libraries in India should be able to freely exchange books with libraries in other countries.
We need to spread awareness about the importance of building in accessibility right at the start so that not much time, effort and money is wasted at a later stage in converting materials into accessible formats.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/copyright-challenges-for-print-impaired-persons-in-india

Copyright Amendment Bill in Parliament

nirmita — 2011-08-30T09:26:44Z

The Copyright Amendment Bill is expected to be presented in the Rajya Sabha by the Minister for Human Resource and Development, Kapil Sibal today afternoon. The much awaited Bill (since it has been in the offing since 2006) has undergone significant changes since its initial appearance.

Given below is a very quick first cut highlight of the Bill from a public interest perspective. A more detailed analysis will follow after the session discussions.

Parallel imports: The parallel imports clause which had been put in as sec 2(m) has now been dropped from the present draft. This is a big setback because educational institutions, libraries and archives, second hand book, etc., were looking to this provision to bring down the prices and hasten the availability of books. This also affects persons with disabilities since they will be unable to import books in accessible formats.
Persons with disabilities: There are two provisions relating to persons with disabilities which have been introduced. Section 52 (1) (zb) relates to the conversion, reproduction, issues of copies or communication to the public of any work in any accessible format, provided that these activities are meant to enable access to persons with disabilities and sufficient safeguards are taken to ensure that these materials do not enter the mainstream market. This section in a sense is broader and more encompassing than some provisions found in other countries, which relate exclusively to the blind or visually impaired. This section would adequately cover persons with other disabilities who cannot read print. A new section 31B also provides for compulsory licensing for profit entities wishing to convert and distribute works in accessible formats, provided that they are primarily working for persons with disabilities and are registered under sec 12A of the Income Tax Act or under chapter X of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995.
Many exceptions under 52 (1) (i) relating to fair dealing have been extended to all works except computer programmes. New sections 52 (1) (b) and (c) protect transient and incidental storage from being classified as infringing copies, which offers protection to entities such as online intermediaries.
The scope of compulsory licensing under sec 31 has been expanded from ‘any Indian work’ to ‘any work’. Three new sections 31 B, 31C and 31 D have been introduced. Section 31 B has already been described in the paragraph on persons with disabilities. Section 31 C lays down strict measures relating to statutory licensing in case of cover version, being a sound recording of a literary, dramatic or musical work. Section 31 D relates to statutory licenses for broadcasting organizations wishing to broadcast a literary or musical work or sound recording.
Non commercial public libraries can now store electronic copies of any non digital works they own (52(n)).
The new Bill introduces Technological protection measures (65A and 65B) and makes circumvention and distribution of works in which rights managements systems have been removed an offence which is punishable with imprisonment upto two years as well as fine. In addition the copyright owner can also avail of civil remedies. As such India is not really required to have these provisions in the copyright legislation since we are not yet a signatory to the WCT or the WPPT and such provisions will hamper consumer interests.
Terms of copyright have been increased significantly without reason, thus preventing works from falling into the public domain. For instance, the term of photographs has been increased from 60 years to life of the photographer plus 60 years. This is far in excess of the minimum term stipulated by international treaties.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/copyright-bill-parliament

Comments to the GIGW

nirmita — 2015-05-09T16:00:11Z

The Centre for Internet and Society submitted its comments to the National Informatics Centre on April 30, 2015.

We the undersigned would like to commend the NIC for taking a leadership role in promoting eaccessibility through the notification of the Guidelines for Indian Government websites (GIGW) in 2009. Undoubtedly, web accessibility plays an ultimately crucial role in enabling and enhancing citizen participation and access to information. The development of assistive technologies both hardware and software has increased the potentiality of the constituency of persons with disabilities and elderly to become one of the largest consumer groups on the Internet. We use the word ‘potentiality’ because the current information ecosystem on the Internet, comprising information through text, electronic documents, audio, video and other multimedia presented through Indian websites are inaccessible for persons using screen readers and other technologies.

Despite the passage of 6 years since the GIGW, there has been negligible progress on the front for making Indian government websites conform to the notified standards. An evaluation of accessibility of government websites carried out in 2012[1] demonstrated that the majority yet remained inaccessible, with very slow improvement in the situation thereafter. Our interaction with government departments and government web developers revealed that there was still a relative lack of awareness of the need to conform to these guidelines coupled with an absolute lack of knowledge on how to implement them. Given this background, we submit our recommendations as below:

Mandatory: Since experience has demonstrated that voluntary compliance has not worked to bring about accessibility in government communication through the Internet, it is necessary that these guidelines be made mandatory with a strict deadline beyond which noncompliance becomes an offence, to ensure that it is taken seriously. This is now partly in place since the notification of the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility[2] by the DEITy in Oct 2013. The legal mandate around this will only strengthen once the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill comes in force. Hence, the present recommendation.
WCAG 2.0 level AA compliance: We recommend that WCAG 2.0 level AA be specified as the standard for minimum level of compliance in the guidelines. This is recommended for several reasons.
a. These are globally accepted standards which have been well researched
b. These have assigned success criteria for each guideline, which is not present in the current draft of guidelines, thus enabling a developer to know whether the criteria have been adequately met.
c. The task of review is a constant one which is being undertaken by experts around the world through various study groups and technical committees, which will ensure that updates are timely and keep abreast of new developments. Hence, the burden of review will not be upon us. At present, we also do not have the domain expertise on this subject which is available with W3C and elsewhere globally. Instead, efforts may be focused upon making any additions to the WCAG 2.0 which are required to make them more comprehensive in the Indian context.
Meeting success criteria: For each accessibility checkpoint / guideline, there should be defined success criteria to ensure that the implementation meets acceptable levels. There should be Objective measures in place to have technical validation of all the websites. There needs to be a process defined to validate all websites on WCAG accepted tools to ensure compliance to technical standards. The recommended procedure provided by the W3C for evaluating websites known as the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology 1.0[3] (WCAG-EM) may also be followed in this regard.
Onus of implementation: The onus of complying with the Guidelines must be placed on the top management in an organisation/ department/ ministry. Someone like a board member or other senior person.
Accessibility audit: There should be an accessibility audit after the development of a website by a 3rd party entity independent of the website developer and website owner.
Accessibility audit agency: There must be a provision to setup an entity which can perform access audit for all government websites. The agency may include government officials from various departments, ministries or autonomous bodies, leading accessibility firms and must include end users.
Content updation: To ensure the accessibility of new content that is added to a website on a regular basis, there should be a defined accessibility process so that an existing system that is accessible is not broken.
Clarity in the specifications: There should be clear guidelines to make it easy to comprehend for all and not just a technical person. At present, some of the guidelines are ambiguous and may not be easily discernible even to an experienced developer or website development agencies who are not domain experts. For example, guideline5 states: ‘Information structure and relationship is preserved in all presentation styles’. This guideline could be clearer if it specified that tabular information should be specified with table tags, labels should be marked with label tags, Headings should be marked with heading tags. Etc. This reiterates the earlier point that adherence to WCAG 2.0 is best since it provides developers with resources such as Understanding WCAG 2.0 and Techniques for WCAG 2.0 documents. Another example is guideline 19- ‘There is adequate contrast between text and background colour’. However, it is unclear as to what is meant by ‘adequate’. WCAG 2.0 on the other hand, specifies the contrast for each level. IT specifies acceptable colour combinations for background, foreground and text which increase accessibility.
Stress on implementation: A lot of attention should be given to implementing the guidelines. The fact that there has been minimal success in adoption of the guidelines makes out a clear case for a stronger awareness strategy and adoption action plan, with a dedicated team or department in place within NIC which can work towards supporting training and retrofitting efforts with different government departments and agencies around the country. This also calls for a two tier team approach, one at the central level, with contact points set up for each state which are responsible for this implementation, with the time limit for enforcement of these guidelines. For this purpose, partnerships may be sought with private players and organisations serving the disabled and accessibility experts.

We are available to help this endeavour and are happy to provide support whether in the form of clarifications, feedback or any other manner. Our contact details are given at the end of this submission.

[1]. Accessibility of Government Websites in India: A Report (by CIS and Hans Foundation): http://cisindia.org/accessibility/accessibility-of-government-websites-in-india

[2]. Available at http://www.ncert.nic.in/announcements/notices/pdf_files/Nationalpolicyonuniversal.pdf

[3]. Available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-EEM/

Click to download the submission file.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-to-gigw

Comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules

nirmita — 2017-03-29T03:41:25Z

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS) submitted comments on the draft Rights of Persons with Disabilities Rules for the consideration of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India.

The comments were submitted to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on March 23, 2017. Click to download the submission here.

Introduction

We thank the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPD) for inviting comments on its draft rules. We provide brief comments on the Rules below. We would particularly like to draw the department’s attention to the need to have rules concerning measures relating to standards compliance, training and monitoring which we feel would help strengthen the Rules to address the issue of accessibility in a timely and effective manner.

Accessibility of the draft rules document

At the outset, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the Rules when first published in PDF form were only partially accessible and not easily readable for persons using screen readers. We appreciate that at a later date, an accessible Word version was provided, however we feel that even the original PDF needs to conform to the PDF/UA standards.

Policy/Guidelines on accessible communication

Following from the above point, we would like to propose that the DEPD publish at the earliest a set of guidelines for publishing accessible information and communication. The guidelines may define what constitutes information, explain how to create and disseminate accessible information and identify relevant accessibility standards. They may be applicable to all cases where printed or electronic information such as books, leaflets/ handbooks, mails, invoices, forms, data, policies and acts are created and communicated to diverse stakeholders. This guidelines may be mandatory across the Central and State Governments.

Reasonable Accommodation

Rule 3(1) requires that every establishment take steps to provide reasonable accommodation. It may further be added that said measures towards reasonable accommodation be taken within a reasonable time frame, such that persons with disabilities are provided access to resources at the same time as others and not significantly later.

Standards and Guidelines

Standards are critical to implement accessibility, and it is important that we adopt the most updated globally recognised standards. To aid this endeavour, we recommend that the DEPD may appoint two experts who will primarily be responsible for implementing accessibility. Their tasks will involve identifying standards and policy requirements in different domains and coordinating with the relevant ministries to notify and implement the same. One expert may be responsible for environmental accessibility, while the other may be responsible for overseeing ICT accessibility. The experts may carry out the tasks of formulating strategies to implement accessibility compliance, as well as researching advances in international policies and standards and making recommendations to relevant Ministries.

Regarding the Rules relating to the notification of standards for ICT accessibility (Rule 17.c.), we recommend that these may be expanded and made more comprehensive. To our understanding, some of the standards mentioned in relation to ICT accessibility such as telecasting and broadcasting do not as yet address the issue of accessibility. We recommend that the relevant ministries notify standards and guidelines to be followed in their regard at the earliest. There are also critical domains such as procurement, telecommunications and mobile devices, services and applications and emergency and disaster response for which standards and guidelines need to be notified.

We propose that the deadline for notification of standards be set within 6 months of the Rules coming into force and that the standards to be adopted are those which are globally followed, such as EN 301-549 for procurement.

Past efforts have proven that the notification of guidelines alone does not necessarily result in the implementation of accessibility, and often times a web site or platform which has been made accessible, reverts to being inaccessible as time elapses and persons who are involved in updating it and maintaining are unaware of accessibility principles to be followed. Hence, each and every person developing, maintaining and updating a website should be familiar with accessibility core principles. Outsourcing accessibility compliance is a temporary solution, it will be rendered pointless as people continue to update the website and post new content that is inaccessible. Therefore, some level of training is an absolute necessity, although the specific level and nature of these trainings may vary based on the individual’s role in relation to the website. For example, a web developer would need more in depth training as compared to a communications or administrative officer whose role may be to upload documents to the web site. Creating accessible documents and communicating in an accessible manner is something which every government official should be able to do, while the needs of developers are more advanced and technical and may require two rounds of training. Each ministry and department at the Centre and state may allocate a certain portion of their budget towards this.

An Accessibility specialisation unit may also be constituted within the NIC or any other appropriate agency whose task will be especially to provide on-going practical support to government agencies on how to implement accessibility across their web sites and publications. This team may work closely with the DEPD and other government agencies to audit, trouble shoot and guide continuous progress in implementing web site accessibility across the government.

All Ministries and government agencies may be required to include a section on accessibility compliance and initiatives as part of their annual reporting. This report may also include their performance on expenditure relating to implementing accessibility, hiring employees with disabilities, trainings undertaken and affirmative action required to be taken by them as given in the RPWD Act 2016, such as steps towards incentivising affirmative action by the private sector and activities undertaken relating to Chapter VI, Chapter VII and Chapter VIII of the RPWD Act.

Training and Support

Monitoring and reporting

Regarding website accessibility, the DEPD may also consider taking up auditing web sites of government agencies at random from time to time and publish the reports periodically as a measure towards gauging progress. A comprehensive audit of all government web sites of both the Central and state government and applications may be undertaken every 3 years.

National fund

Rule 43, relating to the Utilization of the National Fund is not clear on how much money is spent on accessibility initiatives each year. It is proposed that this rule specify the percentage of funds which have to be required to be utilised each year. In the absence of this, there is a concern that the fund will be under utilised, despite there being a large need for spending on accessibility. Details of projects and spending may be published from time to time.

Office of the Chief Commissioner

The DEPD may require that at least one person of senior rank within the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities be a person with disability. This will ensure that the interests of the concerned group are directly represented at the highest level dedicated to ensuring their welfare and participation.

Transparency

Finally we recommend that the rules emphasise the need for transparency in implementing the provisions of the Act and that all initiatives, programmes and expenditure may be published in a timely and accessible manner.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/accessibility/blog/comments-on-the-draft-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-rules